


The Shadani Stories

by DrMcNastyPhD



Series: The Gap Year [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Original Work
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Adopted Children, Bickering, Blackmail, Explicit Language, Love/Hate, Platonic Relationships, Tutoring, annoying Shadani
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:16:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27720098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrMcNastyPhD/pseuds/DrMcNastyPhD
Summary: This series follows the death demigod Shadani as she is forced to live with her new guardian Phaele in the castle of Ursoval. These take place in the year that the party was missing and revolve around Shadani’s interactions with the characters around the keep, mostly her and phaele’s rocky relationship. Shadani “hates” her new guardian and the Guardian remembers all too well the feeling of being in Shadani's shoes with her own adoptive father. That doesn't mean she’s not gonna give back as much shit as she takes.Unless stated otherwise assume Shadani is 9 or 10.Shadani also has developed a bad attitude from prolonged exposure to Phaele and any bad words she says or thinks she learned directly from Phaele.
Series: The Gap Year [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2027549
Kudos: 1





	1. Math lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter covers a math lesson between Phaele and Shadani. It's going about as well as you could expect a math lesson between verbally abusive adopted mother and "angry at the world" adopted child could go. Especially a child who was homeless until she was 8 and had no formal education during that time.  
> That is until Phaele's suggestion to leave the lesson early triggers the child's fear of abandonment.

The child sat there staring at the paper in front of her. Her eyes scanned the page over and over again. She must have missed something. 

After hours of arguing with this old bitch about how to do multiplication, she had the nerve to pull this out of her ass. What the fuck did she expect the girl to do with this? All it says is twenty and four equals then a blank space. Between the twenty and the four is the subtraction sign with two dots around it. The fuck is that supposed to be?

Shadani looked up at her exasperated tormenter. Stupid grown up looked worse than usual, reflecting the child’s own frustration. Sitting across from her, Shadani looked down at the table the two shared. It was covered in papers from the other math problems she had done today. Most of them had x marks on them from the questions she got wrong and those ones always sparked more yelling from Slutface. She looked over at the small pile of papers of the ones she got right. They were neatly stacked compared to the shit covering the rest of the table. They stared each other in the eyes, each waiting for the other to make the first move to restart the verbal battle but neither having the energy to start it themselves. Thinking she’s not worth the trouble, Shadani went back to staring at the math problem.

Thinking this has to be some kind of trick she checked the back side of the paper and found it to be blank. She then stared at the front side for another minute or so.

Finally deciding to take a chance the child looks at the equation one last time then writes the number sixteen. She slides the paper over to Bitch.

And there she goes making that face again. The same face she makes whenever Shadani gets anything wrong. The face that screamed “Are you fucking stupid?” without words. Shadani sucks in a breath of air ready for the impending argument.

Bitch takes a deep breath and marks an x next the answer cause of course she does. Then her scowl leaves, replaced once again by the tired look.

“It's wrong.” The hag’s words shocked Shadani as they had none of the bite or fight she expected them to have. Instead the hag sounded defeated and almost… disappointed. 

Too stunned by the way Asshat talked she could only watch, her own grimace replaced with wide eyes and mouth agape, as with a flick of her hand Slut cleaned up the table as she always did when the hell lessons ended. She made a pile of the wrong ones and then burned them. Bitch then took the correct ones and stood up from the table. Making sure to take the long way around the resting shadow mastiff (named mittens) at Shadani’s feet, the bitch started walking to the door.

The girl finally snapped out of her stupor and twisted in her chair to face her fleeing guardian after taking a glance out the window. The sun was still above the horizon. There were at least 2 more hours left in this lesson.

“And where are you going bitch? It’s not time to stop yet.” Shadani didn't understand why Old hag was leaving. She had been the one trying to learn multiplication all day while she sat back and did nothing. 

Bitch stopped in the doorway, not even turning to face Shadani. She sighed, her shoulders slumped a bit lower and said “Listen twerp. Lessons over for today. You made decent progress I guess. We’ll continue in tomorrow's lesson.” Her stupid voice still sounded tired, done with the lessons.

Shadani’s eyes widened as she felt feelings she hadn't felt since she had been taken from Jebek. She remembered long nights on the streets of the Dog Park (bad neighborhood). Long days made shorter by her spirit guardian Bryan. 8 years of her short 10 year life flashed in her memory at once. The main theme of it all was the loneliness and feelings of abandonment. 

Her pulse quickened as she thought to herself “Not again. _Please_ not again.” She felt herself start to sweat a bit, her mind racing for something to say to make Phaele stay.

“Ar- are you running away? You... whore?” The last word more of a question than an insult, the girl hoping the increase in verbal firepower would spark a response and cause slutty-mcslutbutt to stay. Her voice carried none of the usual venom or malice that usually accompanied her insults. Her voice cracked and rose an octave. The words strained, forced past the sobs that were seconds away from reaching the surface. 

Bitch stopped in the doorway. For some reason bitch turned around and stared at Shadani. She looked into Shadani’s eyes like she was looking for something.“Wha- What? You got something to say?” She forgot the insult. “Hag.” Her words still broken, a plea for her to stay not in denotation but in tone.

The child stared back, trying to keep her face in its usual scowl she had when facing her greatest pain in the ass but every second or so there was a crack in the armor that showed her nervousness and unease. A subtle twitch of the mouth. Her eyes look softer and pleading before catching themselves and poorly attempting to resume their glare. 

Then Bitch gave her a look that so many others had given her throughout her life. The same look that the thousands of people who walked by her everyday when she was homeless gave her. After studying a child for a minute, her usual hardened dumb facial features softened. Dumb eyes looked sad, almost sympathetic. A look of pity.

Shadani’s heart dropped. This was always the part when they walked away.  
With another long sigh Phaele returned to her seat, this time getting a bit too close to Mittens and recoiling when he growled at her. 

“Fine. But if I stay you have to actually get them right.” Dumb bitch said. She returned the right answer pile to its place and summoned more blank pages on the table. She rewrote the unsolvable problem with the weird symbol and slid it over to the Shadani.

Shadani tried her very best to mask her relief. Taking a second to regain her composure and stifle a sniffle she went back to staring at the question. She can't show weakness in front of the enemy after all.

It is really hard to be mad at dumb bitch when she’s happy but Shadani gave it all she had, having to stop herself from smiling every few seconds or so.

She slid the paper back over to the dumb bitch and crossed her arms. Her confidence revived and back twice as strong. “How am I supposed to get them right if you don’t teach me? Isn't that why you make me come here? For someone who is supposed to be smart you sure are stupid.” 

“You could have asked for help at any time. You’re the one who chose not to do it, dumbass.” Bird brain’s comeback also had the rekindled fire in it, Shadani noticed. 

Shadani made some comment about Bitch’s gross adult germs when Bitch got closer to teach her the math. When the lesson for that day ended it was well into the night and Shadani made sure to voice her displeasure many times to bitch about going overtime. All with a smile on her face she forgot the hide.


	2. Blackmail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shadani want's some information and she's gonna get it, even if she has to play dirty.

Shadani wandered around the castle looking for that dumb grown up Diana. She needed some things from her. After checking her room and the field with the local children and finding her absent, Shadani knew exactly where she was.

Shadani walked down the hallway towards Phaeles workshop, hoping that things haven't gone too far yet. There were a couple of times where she had interrupted them and they were almost fully naked and one time they were. Gross.

Entering the workshop, saw a sight she had seen too much for her liking. That dummy Diana kissing her boyfriend Hervul and sitting on his lap. At least they were clothed this time. Before they could get any further she called out in obvious disgust, announcing her presence.

“Ew.”

Diana stopped kissing her boyfriend and tension visibly built up in her shoulders. She muttered under her breath “Gods be damned.” She shifted around on his lap to look at the girl. “Whatever you want, not now Shadani. I'm busy.”

“I don't think you are.” Shadani commented with an innocent smile.

Diana looks between her and Hervul. “Obviously  _ we _ are busy. Fuck off.”

“But you can't be busy because you aren’t doing anything. Unless… you are doing something.”

Thoroughly annoyed now, “Of course I’m doing something, now get out of here. This isn't something kids should see.” She turns back to resume making out.

The kid rolls her eyes, “I don't know. If you were doing something in a place where you shouldn't do it you might get in trouble.” Once again Diana turned around stared at the child, shocked at her brazen attitude. 

Truth be told she was in fact doing something where she wasn't supposed to be doing it. Phaele’s workshop is her temple. She likes everything to be clean, well as clean as it could be with clutter everywhere. She had very quickly forbade Diana and her apprentice Hervul from having relations in the workshop after walking in on them the first time. Having caught them several times after that and having no real way to punish Diana directly, Phaele instead opts to punish Hervul. Whenever they get caught fooling around in the lab she gives Hervul extreme overtime, making it so that he doesn't have time to even think about his girlfriend. 

Phaele was currently away on a trip to visit her godchild, giving Diana and Hervul ample time to fool around. While they could do it anywhere they wanted, Diana made a point to do it in the workshop as often as they could cause Phaele was a bitch. Having fun in the workshop was two birds with one stone, she gets to screw her boyfriend and also spite Phaele. 

Realizing what the kid was insinuating she looked studied her with measured anger. “You wouldn’t.”

“I wouldn't what? I’m just saying that you can't be doing what you say you are doing cause that would get you in trouble. I’m also saying that you definitely didn't do it 4 times before today too. I mean, you would never do that right?”

“How do you know about the other times!?”

Shadani put her finger to her chin, pondering. “Well if that stuff were to happen, which I’m sure we can agree they didn’t, My room is right down to hall and noise travels. Not that I heard anything anyway.”

Knowing she couldn't physically threaten the child because that would result in death, and with the threat of being snitched on Diana concedes. She fixes her slightly disheveled clothing and stands up from her man’s lap.

“What do you want?”

Shadani’s face lights up. “Oh! So you are free! I want you to do some things for me.”

“And if I do them, you won't tell Phaele?”

“Tell her what?.”

“Whatever. What do you want?”

Shadani produces a list of demands and hands it to Diana.

Diana reads it to herself, “Braiding hair, picking out dresses, what to spend allowance on, good places to buy foo- Is this seriously all you wanted?” she looked up at the child incredulously. “You couldn't have just asked Dagmar or Stacy or something? Doesn't your little magic jumpsuit do half of these anyway?”

“But I wanna learn how to do it myself.”

“ Again, why me?”

There was a pause before her next response. “... because I like the way you braid yours and your dresses look pretty.”

Diana looked at the child with abject confusion. She couldn't believe her ears. “So you are blackmailing me, to hang out with you and teach you how to braid hair.”

“Would you have said yes otherwise?”

That was a good question. After some inner turmoil and studying the child to see if she was fucking with her Diana landed on the answer of “Maybe. Come one let's get this over with.” She followed Shadani out of the room towards her own, leaving a very confused and frustrated Hervul behind. 


	3. Chapter 3: Lost in Translation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phaele truly cares for Shadani but just cant express herself correctly. Here's a little insight to how her thoughts and words differ.

From the outside it may seem like Phaele disliked Shadani or even hated her but that couldn't be further from the truth. Phaele loved Shadani and tried the best she could to be a good role model for her adopted daughter.

Unfortunately her life as a playboy and a bachelor didn't really prepare her for having a kid. Not even Bella could count despite all the motherly things she did for her. Bella was small, way more well behaved and self reliant than the ten year old. Shadani had been homeless for most of her life and depended on those around her to help her learn.

They came from similar yet opposite backgrounds and she didn't want the girl to experience the same hatred in her heart that she had but she just couldn't communicate it to her.

For example, Phaele worries about her wellbeing all the time. She worries if she’s eating enough or safe. (despite that fact that Shadani could easily kill anyone who messed with her) 

One time Shadani came into her workshop with a big bandage on her forehead, just under one of her horns and Phaele just lost it. 

She was so worried. What could have possibly happened to her to give her that large wound? Was it infected? Did it still hurt? Was Shadani ok? Did she have a concussion? So many questions piled up in her brain at once. 

Along with the surprise came the anger. She was mad that after all the world had put this child through, she still suffered more at the hands of fate. 

With all that anger in her she had wanted to ask Shadani “what happened to you? Are you ok?” but what came out was “Good gods, what the fuck did you do now?” That sparked another argument between the two and Shadani left in a huff. 

She later learned after questioning the town doctor, Dagmar, that she had fallen while playing in the woods with her friends and just had a scratch. Wouldn't even scar. The relief Phaele felt was immense. 

She later tried to patch it up by giving Shadani one of her favorite snacks but the girl just snapped at her and left so she left it in her room. 

Another time Shadani had gotten into an argument with her friend, Jecka. Surprisingly she came to Phaele to vent and she was happy to listen to every single word of it, excited that Shadani chose her instead of all the other options. 

In the story Phaele determined it was pretty easy to see that Shadani was in the wrong. Deciding this was a teachable moment, Phaele wanted to have a heart to heart with her, show her the error of her ways and convince her to apologize and make up with Jecka.

She had intended to say something like “ I think that in this situation you are in the wrong and (explanation as to why and tell her that she should apologize.) 

What came out was “How about you stop being a little bitch?” That didn't go over well.

Her life of being a bitch to everyone she met but Bella was backfiring on her but she didn't know how to change on such short notice.   
She truly loved Shadani but she just couldn't express that love in a way that didn't come off as mean and angry.


	4. Mom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phaele and Shadani have a rocky relationship at best. But how do you exactly define their relationship?

“You’re grounded.” Phaele starred the tiefling girl down, meeting her angry gaze with a level one of her own.    


“You can’t ground me!” the child yelled indignantly.

“I can and I did. I am your guardian and you wasted weeks of my and Bella’s time, you litt-” she took a deep breath. “You went too far.”

“I didn’t even do anything!”   


“You lost control of your powers and almost killed your friends. If you are going to disregard all the lessons that Bella and I taught you, then you don’t deserve to be around others. You are a danger to them and yourself.” 

“It's not fair!” With the outburst came a flux of necrotic energy. Several blasts of purple energy streaked from the child, scorching the walls and one even cracking a chair in the corner of the room. One of the beams went past Phaele’s face, missing it by mere inches. She didn’t flinch. She just kept staring the girl down.

“That is exactly what I’m talking about. Congratulations, you just extended your grounding. Keep it up and I’ll take away your jumpsuit.” Shadani’s face faltered for a moment.

The jumpsuits Phaele invented were a physical manifestation of convenience and laziness. Made because Phaele would spend days at a time in her workshop when she was younger and her father figure complained she should take better care of herself, they can do most things that people need on a daily basis. They are extremely comfortable, they morph to fit the size of the wearer, they can mold into a few other designs like a dress or pants/shorts and a shirt, they’re even insulated. The most useful features were the cosmetic and hygiene features. They were self cleaning, because she routinely gets covered in oil and grime they also clean the user at will. From her double life of being a grease monkey and noble woman she would often be working right up until an important meeting so along with the dress function it also did hair, illusion makeup, and even had pre-programmed perfume scents. Once someone got used to this kind of convenience it was hard to let it go.

Shadani wanted to yell out “You can't do that!” but she knew full well the woman could and would. She held her tongue and glared at Phaele as she exited the room.  
The woman tried to reason with her one last time, “Shadani, this is for your own good. You need to control your powers or you will end up killing someone. You wouldn’t want to kill one of your friends right?” After a brief pause she heard what could be considered a “no” muttered under Shadani's breath. “Then I suggest you review everything in your notebook and use this time to practice.” She was only met with more simmering hatred. Why couldn't kids ever see the big picture? This was for her own good.

Shadani spent the first day fuming in her room. When meals were brought to her the servants were instructed to simply knock and leave it at the door for fear that she might snap and accidentally hurt them. The next day Diana volunteered to take her breakfast to her.

Diana couldn't pass up this golden opportunity for revenge on the little rat. Shadnai spent so much of her time getting between her and her boyfriend and just being a general nuisance, now as the time to strike back. She walked up to the door and could absolutely feel the anger radiating from the other side of it. She knocked twice with a huge smile on her face.

Her voice in a happy sing-song tone, “Oooooh Shadani~ Breakfast time~” She didn't get a response. Well she didn't go out of her way just for nothing, time to push a little harder. 

“Oh don’t be like that. Big sis Diana came to bring her adorable little sister some breakfast. The least you could do is say thank you.” She heard movement in the room. Good, she was getting to her.

“Listen Shadani. I'm sorry that your _mommy_ grounded you but it’ll b-”

“She’s not my mom!” Diana almost dropped the tray of food and ran. The anger she sensed turned into full on murderous rage. It activated her fight or flight instincts. Being a trained and semi experienced soldier, the fact that it activated flight scared her. She remembered that within that annoying and admittedly cute tiefling girl is a powerful demigod who could kill her with a look. She took a moment to regain her composure, all the fun taken out of the event now that she feared for her life.

“Well, Ok then. I'm just gonna leave your food out here Ok? See you later, you know after all this.” She placed down the tray and walked as fast as she could away from the door.

Ten minutes later Shadani sat in her room, finishing up her breakfast and no less angry at the world. How could she call Phaele her mom? She had never had a mom, having grown up on the streets most of her life, but she at least heard and saw other people with theirs from the outside. Moms were supposed to be nice and love you. Phaele was a dumb bitch and was always mean. If she wanted a mom she would want it to be someone strong like Dagmar or nice like Stacy. Not that old, stupud hag. In fact, why was she listening to her and her stupid grounding? She’s not her mom. She doesn't care. She just thinks that if something happens to Shadani it would make her look bad. Well fuck her and her dumb rules.

With that thought Shadani put her tray down and opened her window. She unfurled her demon/bat-like wings, which the jumpsuit opened slits to accommodate for, (having been created by Phaele, another person with retractable wings, they were also equipped to handle that) and took off into the morning sky seeking her best friends Billy and Jecka.

After finding them, instead of being met with smiles and hugs she was met with raised eyebrows and panic. They quickly ushered her to an alleyway, where they wouldn't be seen by prying eyes.

“Shadani what are you doing here?” Billy asked, her voice full of concern.

“I came to hang out with you guys.” she said, matter-of-factly. She didn’t understand why they seemed so panicked.

“Yeah but you’re grounded. You can’t be here!” Jecka shared the same look of panic. “Your mom will get mad.” Uh-oh.

Shadani’s face shifted to one of barely held contempt. She spat out through grit teeth, “She’s not my mom. She’s just some bitch.”

“Well duh. All moms are bitches. That doesn't make her not your mom.” Billy said.

“She’s not my mom.”

They wouldn't take the hint. Jecka continued, “I mean yeah. Moms are bitches. But she teaches you stuff. She cares about you. She makes sure you have food and makes all that cool stuff for you.”

“She yells at me all the time. She’s not my mom”

Billy chimed in, excited to share. “Oh, my older sister and my mom fight all the time! They always argue and stuff. But they still love each other, I think.” She thought about it with her family for a second before remembering the task at hand. “Anyway you have to go back now! If she finds out you left you’ll get in more trouble. Don't worry we won't tell anyone you were here.” Jecka nodded.

Shadani stood fast. “I’m not going back. I don't have to listen to her. Let’s go do something.”

Billy wouldn't let it go.“But you can’t just ignore your mo-”   


“She. Is. Not. My. Mom!” Shadani’s face turned to a snarl, her anger overflowing. A pulse of purple light emanated from Shadani, briefly lighting up the alley. When the light died down, all was quiet, except for a small gurgling sound.

Shadani’s eyes had turned black. Her skin crackled with purple tendrils. She seemed lost to the world. The gurgling sound was Billy, the human girl grasping at her throat, unable to force air in or out of her lungs. Shadani’s hate rang loudly in her ears. This continued for several seconds, Billy’s movements getting weaker until a sound started to break through to Shadani.

It was screaming, far off but rapidly getting closer.

“Shadani! Shadani! Stop! Please!” She blinked and her eyes went back to normal. The energy dissipated and the gurgles stopped. Shadani blinked down at Billy, now gasping for air on the ground and holding her throat, looking up at Shadani with a mixture of fear and confusion in her eyes. She turned to her left and saw Jecka also showing visible fear. What's worse, she saw Jecka flinch when she turned towards her.

Her rage was replaced with immeasurable guilt. She had lost control. She had hurt her friend. She almost killed her. Phaele was right. Shadani tried to speak, but all that came out were garbled sobs. She tears streamed down her face as she forced out an apology and took off, back to the keep.

After hysterically alerting Dagmar and Stacy (the town healers) to the situation and telling them where she had last seen Billy, Shadani didn't know where to go. Then the guilt rose up again. She only had one place she could go.

Phaele looked up as the door to her workshop slammed open. Who in the fuck would dare? Her anger lessened slightly when she saw it was Shadani, that is before she remembered she was supposed to be grounded. 

She stood up from her bench, ready to chew the girl out for boldly disobeying her. “What the fuck are you doing out of your r-omfph.” She was interrupted when the girl threw herself at the woman, her head hitting Phaele squarely in the solar plexus as she wrapped her in a hysterical hug.

After regaining some breath Phaele realized that the girl was distraught, soaking her already grimy jumpsuit in tears. All of the anger in her dissipated seeing Shadani in such a state. The girl just held onto her repeating the phrase “I’m sorry” over and over again.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Shadani just kept sobbing. So Phaele simply wrapped her arms around the girl and held her until she was calm enough to explain herself.

Shadani started her tale with a “You were right.” A real shock to the woman’s system. Her shock only grew when she learned of the almost manslaughter that she had done. Her anger would have to wait until later though.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur. With Phaele being uncharacteristically lenient with Shadani, meaning no yelling, because she understood just how emotionally fragile the girl was at the moment. Phaele first praised the girl on her quick thinking skills in getting the doctors first. Then she sat her down and explained the gravity of the situation. Shadani was also uncharacteristically obedient, silently listening to her when usually Phaele could barely get a word out without some insult or comeback.

She explained that first they were going to go check up on Billy, and that they were going to apologize to her and her family. She also made sure Shadani knew that there was the possibility of Jecka and Billy not wanting to be her friends anymore after what she’d done. Shadani took this surprisingly well. 

Phaele was pleasantly surprised with how mature the children were. Billy had made a full recovery thanks to Stacy’s magic and Dagmar made sure to give her a list of do’s and don’ts in case her throat wasn't completely healed. When the pair showed up to offer their apology the girls hugged Shadani, telling her that they forgive her, and they understood that her powers were hard to control. Phaele’s ears perked up when they also apologized for teasing her too much, though they never elaborated on what exactly was said beyond a few glances shot her way. Billy’s family was also surprisingly understanding.

After all the tears had been shed the children went their separate ways and Phaele took Shadani back to her room. After letting the girl get situated, the anger came flowing back. She let loose, yelling at her about how irresponsible that was and repeating how close that went to going irreversibly wrong. Shadani just sat there and took it, understanding that Phaele was correct. She didn't even flinch when Phaele added an extra two months to the grounding, assigned her extra weekly lessons, and snapped her fingers, removing the magic from her jumpsuit.

“You  _ might _ get this back if you behave. I hope you understand just how important these lessons are.” She stared down at the child expecting an answer.

Shadani kept her head down, eyes staring at the wooden floor. “...Yes”

Phaele decided that the girl had had enough, for now. “Good. Now I'm going to send up your dinner, then you go straight to bed. You got a long day of lessons tomorrow and we start early.” 

The punishment passed and things went back to normal. The entire time Shadani had been obedient and took her lessons very seriously. Phaele was almost concerned that the incident had broken her. That is until when the restrictions were lifted and she was given the jumpsuit back and shadani went back to being the same pain in the ass she always was.

Flash forward a few months. 

Shadani had been on relatively good behavior, only getting into the regular amount of fights with Phaele. On this particular day something had happened that sparked a bigger than normal fight. This caused Shadani to storm out of the room but not without trying to get the last word in.

“Whatever. Fuck you…” she paused, so full of anger she couldn't accurately create an insult, so instead she grabbed the first word that came to mind. “Mom!” Both she and Phaele stopped, realizing what she had said. 

“The fuck did you just call me?” Phaele couldn't believe her ears.

“Sh-Shut up. I made a mistake. Go fuck yourself you bitch!” Shadani stormed off, more out of embarrassment than rage.

Phaele couldn't bring herself to muster the energy to be angry at the last comment. She was still stuck on the previous line. She was filled with an unexpected amount of happiness. From what she had heard of Shadani’s past, she never met any of her parents and the closest parental figure was a man who was more of a good friend that looked out for her. 

Phaele tried her best to care for Shadani, in her own way. And while she recognized herself as her guardian (and not a particularly good one) she couldn't be sure how the child viewed her. 

Quietly, Phaele spoke to herself in disbelief. “She called me mom.”

For the next couple of days interactions with Phaele could only be described as uncomfortable at best. All were used to her patented resting bitch face and prickly attitude, so they found her smile and non stinging words to be a shock. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always comments/criticisms welcome.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback appreciated as always.


End file.
